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Since Kayla Harrison announced she would enter the sport of mixed
martial arts and through to her debut for the
Professional Fighters League on Thursday, there has been a
seemingly unending stream of comparisons to another Olympic female
judoka who achieved a rather high level of fame. While
understandable given their obvious commonalities, the comparisons
are often quite lazy. The fact that Harrison and you-know-who share
a gender and an accolade tells us only a limited amount about where
they came from and where they are going.

Plenty of Olympic wrestlers have shifted to MMA. Those wrestlers
have ended up in wildly different spots. Daniel Cormier and Kevin
Jackson both debuted as professional fighters in their 30s after
prestigious freestyle backgrounds. Cormier became an all-time great
even with the late start, while it took Jackson only six bouts to
recognize MMA wasn’t for him. Jackson was the one who had
accomplished more at the Olympic level.

There has been variance not only in success but also in fighting
style. One might think wrestlers would end up primarily utilizing
takedowns, but that hasn’t always been the case. Sara McMann and
Matt Lindland relied heavily on their grappling bases, while Yoel
Romero and Dan Henderson ended up as knockout sluggers.
Personality-wise, they have varied wildly, too, from the
soft-spoken Henderson to the brash Ben Askren. Just knowing a
fighter comes from an Olympic wrestling background doesn’t tell you
a lot in and of itself.

There is plenty to suggest Harrison will follow a very different
path than former teammate Ronda Rousey, starting with their
approaches to MMA. The way that the two women got into the sport
reflects their differences in personality. Rousey throughout her
life has dived ferociously into various ventures, only to later
leave in a similar storm. This was the case with judo, then MMA and
is now reflected in the way she has quickly taken to the world of
pro wrestling. Rousey was fighting for the Strikeforce
title only a year and a half after her amateur debut.

By contrast, Harrison has been deliberative when it comes to MMA.
She was non-committal about venturing into the sport even while
getting continually questioned about it due to her connection with
Rousey. After signing with what was then the
World Series of Fighting, she took her time in preparing
herself for the sport. It took her just about the same amount of
time to fight for the first time after signing her initial MMA
contract as it did for Rousey to advance from novice to champion.
Harrison’s caution may reflect a determination to take her time and
develop as a fighter incrementally, something that could have
benefited Rousey. It may also indicate Rousey was more devoted to
the endeavor or that she took to it quicker, indicating problems
for Harrison down the line. Either way, their approaches stand in
stark contrast.

Harrison also is a much larger woman than Rousey. She competed in a
division 18 pounds higher than Rousey in the Olympics -- no small
difference when it comes to women’s MMA. Rousey could enter into a
bantamweight division full of talent and had plenty of opponents
that would present a challenge to her. This led to more interest in
her early fights when there was some question how she would fare
against Miesha Tate or Sarah Kaufman. By contrast, Harrison is
currently in what is from a fan’s perspective a one-woman division.
She has for all intents and purposes no opponents at 155
pounds.

There is, of course, one prospective opponent for Harrison who
stands out, residing in a lower weight class. That Cristiane
Justino presently resides in a lower weight class than Harrison
isn’t an inconsequential fact. The story for years was whether
Rousey would move up to fight the larger Justino. The idea that
“Cyborg” might finally have met her match is a marketable
narrative. However, the hook of “Cyborg” as Goliath was a big part
of what made her fight with Gina Carano and the prospective fight
with Rousey so big. They’ll need a different hook with Harrison if
that fight ends up taking place. It’s hard to market someone as an
underdog when she struggles to cut to the weight class of the
monster.

The starkest contrast between Rousey and Harrison lies in
personality. Harrison is in effect what Rousey was marketed to be.
The media fell in love with Rousey and sold her to the broader
public as the smiling hero on the magazine cover. In truth,
Rousey’s personality was more that of the antagonist. Rousey
enjoyed playing the role of the villain, talking trash about
opponents and engaging in deeply personal feuds. Her entrance music
was indicative of her mentality: “Bad Reputation” was an ode to not
caring what the world thinks about you. There was always a
disconnect between that and the way she was promoted.

It is Harrison who for better and worse fits into the
nice-girl-next-door role. She has a heartrending backstory but
seems driven more by love than rage. She’s unlikely to get into as
many personal disputes with opponents as Rousey. Of course, those
personal disputes fuel interest in the sport and helped Rousey
become the star that she was. If Harrison does end up picking up
media interest comparable to Rousey, it will be an interesting test
of how much the media helped Rousey and how much Rousey’s success
came down to her own promotional efforts.

Harrison, more than the vast majority of MMA prospects, has an
extremely uncertain MMA future. She has more potential to become a
superstar than many if not most current champions. However, she
also could end up not getting very far at all. The spectrum of
potentialities is wide. That’s because of who she is, not anyone
else. She’s not going to be able to avoid the comparisons, but that
doesn’t mean they’ll play much of a role in her own future
successes and failures.

Todd Martin has written about mixed martial arts since 2002 for
a variety of outlets, including CBSSports.com, SI.com, ESPN.com,
the Los Angeles Times, MMApayout.com, Fight Magazine and Fighting
Spirit Magazine. He has appeared on a number of radio stations,
including ESPN affiliates in New York and Washington, D.C., and
HDNet’s “Inside MMA” television show. In addition to his work at
Sherdog.com, he does a weekly podcast with Wade Keller at
PWTorch.com and blogs regularly at LaTimes.com. Todd received his
BA from Vassar College in 2003 and JD from UCLA School of Law in
2007 and is a licensed attorney. He has covered UFC, Pride,
Bellator, Affliction, IFL, WFA, Strikeforce, WEC and K-1 live
events. He believes deeply in the power of MMA to heal the world
and bring happiness to all of its people.